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America has a drinking problem

theatlantic.com

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Re: America has a drinking problem

#641

Post by RalfWausE »

fy20 wrote: post #543
blhack wrote: post #116

Some of my most cherished memories are those where I was out drinking wine and having really good food with my wife and friends. When people were telling stories about Jesus, the central figure of their religion, one of the miracles they told of was him turning water into wine. This is held up as one of the most important stories in their entire moral system. When the pyramids were being built, the builders were paid…

If anything your comment just reinforces how much of a problem it is, and how deeply it is engrained in society. If sugary processed foods had been developed 5000 years ago, would you be saying the same about those today? You are associating alcohol == good times, which if you want to do so is fine (we are adults, we have free will), but know that you can have good times without alcohol as well. They aren't mutually…

I think the biggest problem the western societies have today is: Finding problems everywhere.

Ok, i am from germany, so i assume my views on alcohol probably differ a lot from the view most americans have. Here, it is totally fine for a 16 year old to buy and drink wine or beer. It is totally unproblematic if you enjoy a few beers with your friends in the park... and the alcohol ban in public some cities acted caused turmoil short of a full blown riots.

What i want to say is: Why do we allways need to find "the hair in the soup"?

Yes, it may be unhealthy... but so are other things, and i think a perfectly healthy life would be terrible boring.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#642

Post by hutzlibu »

Sophistifunk wrote: post #423

People have the cause and effect backwards in my opinion. You know why "binge drinking" isn't a problem in Germany, except for when the Australians turn up for Oktoberfest? It's because you can just buy a beer on the side of the road with your currywurst, and drink it without being hassled. If you act up, you get arrested for acting up. Try openly having a few beers in the park in Australia or the US, you'll be run o…

Binge drinking is a problem in germany.

You can allmost call it youth culture, most kids go through, before becoming adults. In my late teenage years, it was common and expected on parties to drink, until you have fun, who can drink the most (and puke afterwards), etc.

Most people, like myself, had enough of this after some time and matured - but I know too many people, where the booze and beer stayed with them.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#643

Post by OJFord »

ekianjo wrote: post #533
dcolkitt wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like calories would add up pretty quick, especially when you throw beer into the mix. Do you have any trouble with weight? Or is that you eat a lot less food to compensate? I suppose to some extent a cocktail in hand on the couch substitutes for snacks.

Beer has typically less calories than Wine at least for light beers which are the most common. https://www.livestrong.com/article/138115-beer-vs-wine-calor...

That compares a can of beer to a .. at least large-side-of-medium (for home consumption, not charge-by-the-glass regulated sizes perhaps) glass of wine.

And even then the wine comes in pretty much in the middle of the beer range, you've just unilaterally decided that the less calorific beers are more common and drawn your conclusion on that basis..

Maybe that is true in the US, certainly causes a problem with ordering an IPA in the UK - I don't like the light fruity style of the American version, which is typically what you get from anything that would self-describe as 'craft', so it's a bit of a game of judging the branding for modern start-uppy craftiness vs.. imperialness (!) if not already familiar. (I digress..)

Re: America has a drinking problem

#644

Post by gideon13 »

Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

Interesting conflation of "patriotic" and "conservative" with "backwards".

Re: America has a drinking problem

#645

Post by kortilla »

cycomanic wrote: post #618
stadium wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you from, and where have you lived, visited, and worked to come to this conclusion? It's not at all what I've experienced as a US born after living on both coasts, a few different states, and a range of small rural and large urban cities. Food sure, if you only consider culture as the corporate branded chains. That's missing out on a lot though. Language, accents, nomenclatures, sayings, mannerisms, all wid…

The OP specifically said compared to regions of similar size. You only talk about variations in the US, have you lived outside? The variations that you talk about, you can find in Germany alone which is the size of a medium size US state. The variations across Europe (I can't speak for India) are on a completely different level. If you put a random person into two different states in the US and two different countrie…

> Europe for an hour and ask them after which differ more, I would bet serious money they will always pick the two European countries.

Only because of superficial things like language. When it comes to politics and the role of government, Europe is pretty consistent. Barring language and architecture, this makes cities all effectively the same pattern (high density, trains, buses, expensive per sq foot).

The gulf between life in the sprawl of Dallas and the density of NYC is far greater than the difference between Paris and Rome.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#646

Post by justinator »

notdeadofdrink wrote: post #436
dcolkitt wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like calories would add up pretty quick, especially when you throw beer into the mix. Do you have any trouble with weight? Or is that you eat a lot less food to compensate? I suppose to some extent a cocktail in hand on the couch substitutes for snacks.

All of the above. I eat less than the average bear, I am overweight (although not absurdly so), and don't snack while drinking. I will occasionally go a week or two in which I only have one or two beers, total, and I have noticed that my appetite is significantly larger on latter half of those weeks. Weight is one of the primary reasons I am considering drinking less, although there would have to be quite the associa…

You see the trap you're setting yourself up for, right? Getting back in shape is a lot harder to do then just keeping in shape and it doesn't get easy when you get older. I just don't think that one naturally drinks less when they get older, and things just balance out in the end. You may be in a world of hurt. I am a little jaded as I've seen family members die of alcoholism that no one - not even in their immediate family, were aware they had. Their decline was surprisingly swift and sudden. I'm not drink free, but it seems you drink more in one week than I do in a year. I couldn't imagine writing off even half a day (anymore) because I drank too much the night before. Life is not that long. Anyways, off my soap box.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#647

Post by kvgr »

SilverRed wrote: post #504
Sophistifunk wrote: post #423

People have the cause and effect backwards in my opinion. You know why "binge drinking" isn't a problem in Germany, except for when the Australians turn up for Oktoberfest? It's because you can just buy a beer on the side of the road with your currywurst, and drink it without being hassled. If you act up, you get arrested for acting up. Try openly having a few beers in the park in Australia or the US, you'll be run o…

The public drinking laws are not because the government thinks the average person can't be trusted. It's because the homeless population has a large drinking problem and it often results in people getting assaulted on the street. These laws let the police do something about this before it results in harm.

Does the brown paper bag magically fixes this situation?

Re: America has a drinking problem

#648

Post by Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL »

gideon13 wrote: post #644
Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

Interesting conflation of "patriotic" and "conservative" with "backwards".

My comment is not about giving the most nuanced picture of the US, but about the caricatures that seem to exist within, sometimes in stark contrast to one another.

"USA USA USA" chants, american flag on the lawn, big pickup trucks, the possession of firearms, monster trucks, american football, people who attend WWE events, "Trump voters" and MAGA hats (let's throw it in there, because it's tied into that), there's a certain stereotype there, and it's not exactly tied to those people being the cultural or intellectual elite of the country.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#649

Post by tolbish »

Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

Policymakers don't really have to deal with the realities of what you mention. Like the bad education, for instance. That isn't really "your problem". The externalities of an awful public education system are borne by the unfortunates. Not you, who did things right, and not the people like you, who it is important you identify with. And so you're not going to give that issue anything more than lip service.

^ also written somewhat tongue in cheek

Re: America has a drinking problem

#650

Post by kortilla »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #598
casion wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lest we not forget the many, many people who simply can not stand the taste of alcohol. There's quite a few people that fall into that category. Some of us can't even stand fermented breads, let alone a light wine.

A personal question, and I truly mean no offense - are you on the spectrum? The only people I've met (in real life) to date who can't stand the taste of alcohol are children and people with Asperger's, I assume because bitter tastes are a sort of sensory overload for them. Purely anecdotal and could be a complete horseshit theory, but I'm just curious.

Or perhaps people who aren’t on the spectrum who don’t like the taste just keep it hidden and phrase it in some socially acceptable manner as to not offend the drunks.
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